Raymond A. Desautels III, an Oxford lawyer whose website touts him as "a lawyer you can trust," was charged by federal authorities yesterday with wire fraud for allegedly misappropriating nearly $2 million of a client's money, much of which federal agents seized last week.
Desautels, who was not arrested, has been issued a summons to appear in federal court at a date to be determined, said Christina DiIorio-Sterling, a spokeswoman for US Attorney Michael J. Sullivan.
The US attorney's office filed a complaint in federal court in Worcester yesterday charging Desautels, 41, with taking $1.99 million that a client had provided to him for the closing of a real estate deal in Pennsylvania, according to a sworn statement filed by FBI Special Agent Albert D. Lamoreaux.
Desautels allegedly told the FBI that through a complicated series of transactions, the money ended up in the hands of an acquaintance, Allen Seymour of Oxford, who had told the lawyer he needed money for a brief time to obtain bank financing for a business deal.
Desautels said yesterday that Seymour deserved most of the blame.
Seymour allegedly took more than $1.3 million in stolen cash and attempted to flee to Venezuela in a private aircraft with his family last Friday. But federal agents using a cash-sniffing dog arrested him at Opa Locka Airport near Miami, Sullivan's office said.
Seymour was charged with wire fraud, interstate transportation of stolen property, attempting to evade currency reporting requirements, and attempting to hide more than $10,000 in luggage and to transport it outside the United States.
Attempts to reach Seymour and his representatives have been unsuccessful. 
